Ghost From the Past
by ZeroTheBlackWolf
Summary: A part of her past catches up to her. Someone who are supposed to be dead. Someone that reeks of blood. (I recommend to read the introduction to my WoL Marks of the Past first)
1. Chapter 1

I just evaded two shuriken that flew right front of my face and buried themselves into the tree next to me.  
"I see that the Blackwolf has not been completely tamed." Said a voice as I could feel a chill run down my spine.  
"So you survived Akane, or should I say Bloodwolf?" I said and turned towards the attacker.  
"So you remember me. You honor me Lyn" Said the red haired Viera.  
"Bloodwolf? Does that mean?" Leah who stood next to me said.  
"We are of the same tribe yes." I replied with my eyes focused on Akane.  
"A tribe that threw us both out it seems." Akane said with a grin.  
"But you have fallen even lower and joined the Empire it seems, Disgraceful." I said taking a look at her Imperial looking armour.  
Akane just laughed.  
"Coming from the one calling herself a hero. But come now let our blades to the talking" She said.  
I nodded and drew my sword.  
Akane's grin grew bigger as she launched towards me and our dance began.

"Have your fangs really grown so dull?" Akane asked after a while into the battle.  
I did not reply, But I could see what she meant. I was holding back. Not because I wanted. No. It's because I am afraid. Afraid of my old self.  
"This is not the beast I faced back then. This is just pathetic. Boring even." She said  
I was out of breath. I couldn't think straight. This battle was more than I had anticipated  
I can win If I just…  
"This is over" Akane interrupted my thoughts as she came towards me with a final attack.  
The pain went through my body as I could feel her blades cut into my flesh.  
"And you call me a disgrace." she said as I feel to the ground.  
"Lyn!" I could hear Leah scream as she was running towards me.  
But Akane stopped her by grabbing her and disarming her in the process.  
"Hey! Let me go!" She screamed.  
"Oh no not so fast. I will have use of you." Akane said.  
"Let her go. this is between the two of us." I groaned.  
"Don't worry I will not harm her. But to release her then you will have to let your beast out. Let me relive that fateful day." She said and kicked me so I passed out.

"Leah!" I screamed as I came to .  
"By the twelve woman!" Krile said who was tending my wounds.  
I looked around the room and noticed that I was back in the Rising Stones.  
I tried to sit up but the pain stopped me and Krile said. "You'll reopen your wounds if you try to move too much "  
I did not reply and just closed my eyes again. Only to be interrupted by the other sicons entering the room.  
"Look who i finally awake." Y'shtola said  
"What happened?" Alisaie asked.  
"Yes we quite shocked when Yugiri came in carrying you on her back, saying that she found you bleeding out on the side of the road." Alphinaud said.  
I just stared up at the ceiling as I replied "A ghost from my past."  
"A ghost?" Thancred said.  
"A woman known as the Bloodwolf." I continued.  
"Is your tribe after you?" Y'shtola asked.  
"No she is an outcast like me." I replied.  
"But who is she?" Alisaie asked.  
"Akane the most brutal and cruel person to ever receive the name of wolf. To brutal and cruel for the tribe to handle in the end. So they eventually exiled her." I said.  
"But why is she after you now?" Alisaie asked.  
"Well it could be one of two things or a mix of the two. The first is revenge. As you may guess is that she did not take the exile kindly. She attacked the tribe and I was the one who stopped her, and up until now thought to have killed her. The second is that it's the empire that sent her after me"  
"So that's what you mean with ghost." Thancred said.  
I did not reply and just looked back up at ceiling.  
"So I'll take it that this woman holds Leah hostage?" Y'shtola asked.  
I just nodded in reply.  
"We should perhaps ask Yugiri to scout for possible hideouts." Alphinaud said.  
"No. " I simply replied.  
"Huh? Why not? " He asked looking very confused.  
"It has to be me alone." I replied.  
"You know very well we can't let you go alone! Not after what she has already done to you." Alisaie said in a loud voice.  
I took a deep breath and said  
"Look I know, and I appreciate your care. However it is me she is after and only me. Which means that if she sees anyone else but me going after her or Leah. Then Leah is dead. That's why I have to go alone."  
The room grew silent.  
I did not like shutting them out like that. But I can't afford to risk anything when it comes to the Bloodwolf.

Meanwhile in the ruins of the Castrum Meridianum. Leah is eyeing the woman who has her captive. She had a large cut in the left ear and had red hair.  
She had also removed the armor on her arms so Leah could see that she had a similar scar on a similar looking tattoo as Lyn. That symbolizes their exile.  
"I'll take it that you know what this scar means." Akane suddenly said and turned towards her.  
Leah nodded.  
"So she have told you some things at least." Akane continued.  
"However I think that you received it for a completely different reason than what Lyn did." Leah said.  
Akane laughed.  
"Different circumstances perhaps. But the reasons not so much."  
Leah looked confused at her.  
"The reason why we were kicked out was that we did not fit in to the overall plan of what the leadership of the tribe wanted. Even if we both did what we were ordered to do. She and I are not so different from each other as you think." she continued.  
"You are nothing like Lyn in my eyes." Leah replied.  
"I'm not surprised that you see it as such. I can imagine that she has been very picky about what she has told you about her life. And also she is very different now from what she was." Akane said.  
Leah did not reply.  
"Lyn was the best killer I had ever seen. She truly thrived in the shadows. While I was more one that wanted to be seen and have fun with my prey. Lyn was more of a pure predator that stalked and killed quickly then dash back into the shadows. But just like me she enjoyed it. She enjoyed to see that final rays of hope fade from her victims as her blades cut into their flesh." She said but then Leah interrupted her by saying loudly.  
"You are wrong!"  
Akane made a smug laugh.  
"Lyn takes no pride in killing." Leah continued.  
"In her current broken state yes. But if you would see her at her full strength. Then she would not be so tame and slow. No she would be a beast ready to kill anyone who would go against her. Only Grey and Snow could ever keep her from running to wild." Akane said.  
"Grey and Snow?" Leah asked confused.  
"Ah so she have not told you about them." Akane said with a grin.  
"Well she must have mentioned Grey but not by that name perhaps. Yuko Greywolf, her aunt. But it doesn't surprise me that she would leave out Snow. Well it surprise me a bit. Mizuki Snow-wolf her lover and her only light. The only two that the Blackwolf truly ever trusted." She continued  
Leah said nothing for a moment. But then she asked.  
"Why are you after Lyn really? You seem to have big admiration for her."  
"I do admire the Blackwolf yes. As one of the best the tribe ever had and also the one who gave me the greatest fight of my life" Akane said as she picked up her water bottle and took a sip.  
Leah looked even more confused at her as she continued.  
"And it's that admiration that disgusts me to see what have become of her now. For someone who was born a wolf, to live in the darkness and kill with swiftness and no mercy, To become a lapdog who stands in the spotlight as a hero for good. To disregard what she really is. And I'll do admit that there is a bit of hate there as well for beating me, and my current employer do want her dead."  
"So you want her dead for not living up to your expectations?" Leah asked.  
"Well yes and no. The empire is wants her dead the most. What I want is either to awake the slumbering wolf within or to put her out of her misery." She replied.  
"And you think holding me captive will help you achieve that?" Leah said.  
"Oh yes. For unlike Snow so are you her weakness and something that holds her back. So keeping you here will force her to find me, and the risk of something happening to you will force her to fight me. And if that does not work, then getting rid of you will only make her stronger in the long run." Akane said as she tossed Leah some reasons to eat.  
Leah did not reply as Akane laughed as she went back to the campfire.


	2. Chapter 2

"You should not be out of bed in your state." Said a voice from the doorway.  
"Nothing escape from your prying eyes." I replied with a smile and turned towards Y'shtola who stood in the opening.  
"Well I'll guess there's no way to convince you to change corse now? " She replied.  
I did not reply at first and just performed a quick ninjutsu to summon a armor coffer, then said.  
"There is no other way. "  
"And you are going to face her with daggers instead of the sword?" She asked.  
"I guess I can't run from it anymore. I have to face her with all I've got. " I replied and opened the coffer that contained my shinobi gear.  
"And that is what scares you the most about fighting her again. " Y'shtola said.  
I did not reply and just started to take out my gear.  
Among all the Sicions, Y'shtola is the one who has the easiest to read me. But then again she was the first one of them that I met. And the first to learn about my past. So these questions don't surprise me.  
"You are afraid of becoming the monster that you were before your Master found you." She continued  
"Well I'm not going to deny that. But knowing what Akane was capable of doing to her victims in the past, which terrify me of what she can do now." I replied as I took my gear and went behind a screen to change.  
"Can you tell me a little more about her." She asked.  
"Well what more can I say then that she is a sadist. And as one of the people who headed the investigation into her to see if she was fit to stay in the tribe. I got to see her work first hand. The pleasure that she took of dragging out the suffering of her victims is something that I really can't explain or compare. As for the woman herself well outside of work she really did not do much. She kept very much to herself which is very contrary to who she acted during work. Where she wanted to be seen. She did not seem to want to have any friends and none really wanted to be either." I said.  
"Sounds like she only lived for her own work." Y'shtola said.  
"Yeah I drew that conclusion to. However the way she did it is something that most people in the tribe could not get behind. Which ultimately lead to her exile." I continued.  
"You've said that you thought to have killed her in the past. Do you have any idea how she could have survived?" Y'shtola asked.  
"No I don't. There's no way she would have survived that fight. I stabbed her quite close to the chest and not only that but she also fell down a cliff. " I replied as I came out from behind the screen now fully dressed in my old gear.  
I went over to the coffer one more time and picked up one last piece. A wolf like mask(a version of the kokuko men mask.)  
"You will win this time." Y'shtola said as she went up to me and reached me my Katana that had been leaning towards the bed.  
"You said that you were going to face her with everything you got. So don't forget this." She continued.  
I nodded and smiled as I hung the mask on my belt and grabbed the sword.

Leah had noticed that Akane was coughing from time to time and now she could see that she is actually coughing up blood.  
"Dammit. It's getting worse." Akane said in a low tone. But then she noticed that Leah was looking at her.  
"A side effect of the Blackwolf's handy work." Akane said with a grin as she revealed a poorly healed scar near the bottom of her ribcage that would clearly have punctured her lounge.  
"But I have to commend you. I did not see your faith in Lyn being that strong." She continued.  
"Well perhaps it's you that is wrong about her." Leah replied defyingly.  
"Oh I doubt it. But I think it's high time to do more than just talking in order to break you." She replied with a menacing look.

I'm not really surprised that she picked this place to hide in. I thought to myself as I entered the castrum.  
I found Leah first sleeping. And I could feel the anger growing from seeing the wounds that had already been inflicted on her. Nothing to serious yet but it still to much.  
"Leah?" I whispered as I carefully untied her.  
She slowly opened her eyes and said in a weak voice.  
"Lyn? Behind you."  
As I turned around Akane said with a big grin.  
"It's about time for you to show up."  
"Although it seems you only listen half of what I told you. You have not let your wolf out." She continued.  
"You said that you wouldn't hurt her." I replied.  
"You took too long I got bored." She replied.  
I did not reply. I just took my mask off the belt and put it on.  
Akane's grin grew even bigger.  
"There she is! "

Leah suddenly felt a chill go down her spine. As quick as Lyn put on the mask the presences of her aether changed completely. From her normal warm light into something cold.

Me and Akane took of. And the sound blades clashing and jutsu's going off could be heard echoing throughout the Castrum.  
"Oh what I've missed this! You can't imagine how I longed for this fight! Wolf against Wolf!" Akane said.  
"You are no Wolf. You are a beast that only hungers for blood." I replied as I threw a mix of knives and shurikens towards her.  
She dodged and parried all of them and said.  
"It's one and the same. The only difference is that one of them is what you get called when you are no longer of use to the tribe."  
"Come to think of it, none of us would have been exiled that day if it was not for what you did." She continued as our blades clashed again.  
"I only did what I needed to do." I replied as I pushed her away and went for her neck.  
"I could have cut out the corruption out of the tribe. " She replied as she dodged and kicked me in the stomach so I fell back a few yalms on the ground.  
"But you had to come to that woman's aid. I don't get it. She never acknowledged you as her own child. Even though you were the best the tribe had. Equal if not better than Lady Greywolf. You gave her your servitude and what did she give you in return? Nothing but to take everything you had and deserved." She said.  
"I served the tribe not a person." I replied as I forced myself up. I could feel that I was close to reopen one of my wounds.  
"You said so back then as well. But look what that got you. You have been misguided all your life. All pointless and wasted." She said, but I interrupted her.  
"You were wrong to go after her."  
"What?" She replied looking surprised at me.  
"It was Greywolf and the Chieftain who convinced my mother to exile you." I continued.  
"The Chieftain did? Don't play your mind game on me. All I did was to uphold my oath to her. She was the one who I." She said but at the same time I took the opportunity to launch towards her.  
But just as I was about to land a hit, I fell to my knees in pain. I had reopened one of my wounds.  
Akane took this opportunity to grab me by my head and slammed it face first into a wall.  
The mask took most of the force, it cracked and I could feel it cut into my face close to my right eye.  
"You are pathetic! You have grown so dull! I wanted to fight the same woman I faced back then! That was the only reason to why I refused to die! Why were you the one who stopped me from saving the tribe, the one who I had so much admiration for! To to not be able to do it again and try to use such weak words. The wounds I gave you would should not have stopped you. They don't even come close to the ones that you gave me." She said as she started hit me again and again. But as she grabbed her daggers and cut off my head. I disappeared in a puff of smoke.  
"A shadow clone! But when?" She said as she frantically looked around.  
As I appeared next to her again and went in for the kill.  
But she tried to parry it but failed, but still messed up my attack as my dagger went into her arm instead and made me drop my other dagger.  
"You were never that fast before?" She said her grin started to grow again.  
"Did you forget that you should never underestimate your enemy." I replied as I grabbed my last kunai knife and stabbed her right around where I had done years before.  
She groaned in pain and jumped back coughing up blood and laughed.  
"Beautiful! This is what I wanted to see! But sadly it seems like you are out of blades."She laughed even more.  
Well she was not completely wrong. The dagger was still stuck in her arm and kunai below her chest.  
But I just looked at her with a grin this time.  
"All except for one. " I replied and made a simple hand sign and summoned one last weapon. My Katana.  
"Well then. Let's finish this! " She said as she pulled out the two blades that were stuck in her. And raised them and prepare to strike.  
I simply unsheathed my sword and let go of the scabbard and charged in at same time as she did. And as the scabbard hit the ground the battle was over.

"Amazing." Akane coughed.  
Her attack had just grazed me.  
But my sword now went straight through her chest.  
"You really came through in the end." She said as I pulled out the sword and she fell to her knees.  
"What were you really after?" I asked.  
"To be honest up until now I did not know." She replied.  
"And now?"  
She looked up at me and simply said with a smile.  
"Peace."  
I just looked at her as she looked back down on the ground.  
"But before you finish me of. Promise me one thing. Promise me that you will go back to the tribe and set it right. Make sure we are the last ones they wronged." She continued.  
"I promise." I replied as I lifted my sword again and cut of her head.

Leah suddenly heard footsteps and looked to see me limping towards her.  
"Lyn!" she screamed and jumped toward me as I practically collapsed in her arms.  
"Hey. You should not be moving that much." I said but she interrupted me.  
"You silly little wolf." She replied in a calm tone as she took off my broken mask and started to clean the blood of my face  
"I'm sorry I made you wait." I said but again was interrupted. This time she gave me a small kiss and said.  
"I knew you would win."  
I just hugged her. It was a over we could finally have a little breather.

Meanwhile in the deep shadows of the Castrum two masked individuals met up with each other.  
"what are your thoughts my Lady? " Said the younger one.  
"The mission was a success. Let us return to the tribe." The older one replied.  
"Are you satisfied with her performance? " The younger asked.  
"I think you already know that answers Lady Snow-wolf" the older replied and signaled the younger one too move.  
The younger one smiled as the two disappeared into the shadows.


End file.
